Name: A French Drink for Typhus Fever
Ingredients: ¼ pound angelica root; Juice of 2 lemons; ¼ pound honey; ⅓ cup brandy; 1 quart boiling water

Why it works: Angelica and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 189 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓

A French Drink for Typhus Fever

Ingredients

Directions

Slice the angelica root thinly.
Pour 1 quart of boiling water over the sliced angelica.
Add the strained juice of 2 lemons, ¼ pound of honey, and ⅓ cup of brandy.
Cover the mixture and let it stand by the fire for 30 minutes.
Strain the mixture before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Angelica + lemontop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together189 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Honey + brandytop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together169 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (sweet).
Lemon + honeytop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,707 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Angelica + brandytop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together88 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Lemon + brandytop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,351 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).